A tour and talks were arranged in succession by a representative of both the Loyalist and Nationalist community in Belfast who took members on a tour of the Falls and Shankill areas of Belfast. Afterwards a presentation was given by a former member of the British army who is now involved in Veterans for Peace in Northern Ireland and who has settled in Belfast and is now a mature student there. It was a very informative and thought provoking session for members and it was agreed that efforts should be made for future events such as this.

Saturday 6th Sept.

The agenda items were dealt with as follows:
• PRESENTATIONS ON INVOLVEMENT OF MEMBERS IN alf ACTIVITIES IN 2013/2014 –

1. 2013/2014 ALF PROJECT FUNDING AWARD TO EVA INTERNATIONAL: Noelle Collins, curatorial scholar, presented the project on behalf of EVA International. The project Artistic Justice: Positions on the Place of Justice in Art, a series of three international symposia leading towards EVA International – Ireland’s Biennial in 2014. This symposium was supported by the Anna Lindh Foundation, was developed in partnership with Dar al-Ma’mûn, Marrakech and was presented in partnership with IMMA | Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin. For further information see www.eva.ie.

In response to questions, Noelle cautioned that in applications for project proposals it’s vital to include costings for translations as this proved to be much higher than they had anticipated. She also reported that documenting and reporting were challenging. Eva would be happy to give advice to other members who will be applying for project funding in the future.

2. ALF Education Handbook: Several members of the irish network (including Chester Beatty Library and Tigh Fili – Eurochild) have been involved in workshops and discussions with regard to the Education Handbook that the ALF is compiling. Most recently, Nadia Moussed, attended the Convention in Alexandria in June and reported that the handbook will be of great interest to members. .

• Review of ALF network activity which took place in Morocco, April 2014.
Mohamed Fahmi, HoN Morocco, presented the results of the evaluation as well as highlights of the event in Morocco. He reported that 70% of participants said that the event met their expectations, and a massive 98% would be happy to participate in similar events in the future.

Ireland network participants were unanimous in their positive feedback from the event. Some members reported on projects in which they are involved as a result of the internetwork activity in Taroudant.

• Presentation, distribution and discussion of ALF Report on Intercultural Trends (copies will be available). Copies of the Report as well as an Overview document were distributed. The HoN discussed the highlights but as members did not have an opportunity to look at the Report in advance, they were asked to send in their evaluations at a later date. (See evaluation Report attached)

• ALF Phase IV – 2015 and beyond. The Network Coordinator reported that there had been lots of discussion between HoNs and the Secretariat regarding the next phase. A meeting of the BoG was planned for later in September 2014 when the Work Plan would be approved. There will be lots of changes in the ALF

IRELAND HoN. The Network coordinator asked for members who wished to go forward as the new HoN. Triskel Arts Centre were unanimously voted to continue its mandate in order to consolidate the work that has been achieved in the last Phase. Several members indicated that while they were not ready to put themselves forward as HoN in the future, they would not be ready for Phase IV. The network coordinator suggested that in the interest of transparency, any objections can be sent directly to the Secretariat – Deena.bedair@bibalex.orgat and Marta.vallejo@bibalex.org. tat the Network Coordination Unit.

• ALF 10 year anniversary celebrations. The ALF 10th anniversary celebrations, together with the Advisory Council meeting and the Heads of Network annual meeting will take place in napes 26-30 October 2014. It is hoped that some individual members would be invited. The Network Coordinator will participate both in her role as Network Coordinator and as Advisory Council member.

• AOB.

1. SARI (Sports Against Racism) Abdal Abdullah, a young activist from Dublin who works as a volunteer with SARI presented on a project ‘Hat-tricks and hijabs – Irish Muslim women take up soccer’, a project that has received lots of media coverage on radio and television in Ireland. In March of 2014, FIFA lifted their ban on hijabs, meaning that Muslim women can now play international football while wearing their traditional headgear. After finally getting the chance to play, fifteen young Muslim girls trained with their coaches for four weeks, making their football debut at the Fair Play Cup on World Refugee Day held by SARI and UNHCR. winning 2-1 amid the cheers of a raucous crowd. The girls are still training, and plan on participating in SARI’s Soccerfest For further information and this and other SARI activities- see www.sari.ie.

2. DAWRAK. Mohamed Fahmi presented on this programme of exchange and the evaluation that is taking place currently. It is expected that this programme will continue in 2015. The current Dawrak – Citizens for Dialogue programme will be concluded by an event to be organised in November 2014 in Egypt in order to present the highlights of the programme and propose ideas for its new phase starting in 2015. One Irish member participated in the programme to date and gave very positive feedback. Ireland Member VSI (Voluntary Services International) reminded Irish members that there are many opportunities through VSI for Ireland members to host exchange volunteers and that this could offer an opportunity for members to register with VSI as a host for volunteers. This is a funded project. For further information contact Helen@vsi.ie. Or see www.volunteer.ie. Members are encouraged to register their organization via the website.

3. ALF and its involvement in political situations such as the Palestine/Israel conflict. A lively discussion took place in this regard involving the UK and the Moroccan HoNs. Members were assured that this matter would be on the agenda at the HoN mtg in October.

4. ALF Ireland Network’s facebook page. Stephen Spillane, who has participated in many ALF events in the past, but who could not attend the meeting in Belfast, has asked members to send him any information for the facebook directly to Stephen.spillane@gmail.com.

– See more at: http://www.annalindhfoundation.org/networks/ireland/news/alf-ireland-network-meeting-5th-and-6-sept-2014-culturlann-belfast#sthash.ftyJy180.dpuf